It's Always Enough
by Turk 4 Life
Summary: It's hard to be in love, there's always something that manages to stuff up your day, but as long as they are your favorite hello and their hardest goodbye; as long as there's a small smile there at the end of the day it's always enough. CLOTI!


**We Missed You-**

Tifa sighed as she wiped down the bar for the seventh time that evening. She glanced up at the clock above the bar fridge and frowned to herself. Cloud had always been one to forget important events such as their anniversary but Tifa had always had this soft glimmer of hope in her heart that maybe, just maybe Cloud would remember and pop up out of nowhere and surprise her with a sweet hug or loving words. Tifa rolled her eyes at her naïve fantasies. What was she thinking? She couldn't ask Cloud to do such things… no… she couldn't expect him to do such things. Ever since he was a kid he'd been victimized by the town's children, his parents died when he was very young and Tifa's parents had never accepted the young blonde. How could she have even thought that Cloud would sound loving and caring for her after all he's been through?

Tifa shook her head and continued to clean the non-existent dirt off the table as she heard the soft pitter-patter of footsteps carefully step down the stairs, accompanied by nervous voices. Tifa caught a few sentences the two children residing in the Seventh Heaven said.

"Cloud's not home yet." Marlene stated quietly. Tifa frowned at the blank tone of voice. Had the children really gotten so used to Cloud's absence? Denzel shrugged, although Tifa had a feeling that he cared a lot more than he had let on.

"Yeah, he's never here…" He said. Tifa shook her head in disappointment. Though her disappointment wasn't directed at the children, no, it was directed at her blonde childhood friend. Tifa smiled sadly to herself as she placed the dirty rag she was using in the laundry and made her way out to the two orphans she had took in.

_Some best friend Cloud's turning out to be…_

The two children smiled boisterously at her, putting on a mask of fake laughter and happiness. Tifa felt like tearing up… children like hers shouldn't have to act like they're happy. Where was their father figure? They needed him to be there for them! Tifa shook her head of the thoughts and smiled kindly down at the children standing a few feet away from her.

"You guys hungry? I made some lasagna." The children nodded enthusiastically, propping themselves up on the bar stools and grinning from ear to ear as Tifa set down their dinner for them. As she shoveled out her own helping of dinner the door of the Seventh Heaven flew open, revealing a very tired and tattered looking Cloud. Tifa gasped as she tried to make her way to him from over the counter but he just held up a hand and smiled tiredly at her.

"I'm hungry Teef…" She nodded and got to work on shoveling a huge helping of lasagna onto his plate before sliding it to him with a frown on her face. Where was he? Why was he so tired? Why didn't he want to tell anyone anything?

"Cloud…" Tifa began, but she didn't have the strength or the courage to continue. What was she to Cloud? His girlfriend; no. His lover; no. His best friend… Tifa sighed as she wasn't even sure of that any more. All they were now days were… mere friends… acquaintances at best. Tifa glanced at her two overjoyed children and willed herself to smile as she sat down with her 'family' and tried to prod a conversation out of them all. "So… how was your day Cloud?" She asked.

Cloud turned his attention to the brunette and shrugged slightly before speaking. Denzel leaned in closer to hear what Cloud had to say. Tifa smiled sadly yet again. The kids barely heard him talk at all these days. Heck, even Tifa didn't get to have a decent conversation with him. He'd either be too tired or too busy to spare a few words to them all. So this was a big deal; Cloud was indeed going to talk.

"Well, I went to the slums today…" he trailed off, eyeing Marlene who had a glint of hope in her eyes as he let the words slip. He smiled at her and continued, sounding tired. "I found something in the church. I'm pretty sure it wasn't there before. It was a blue headband. It's got the initials D.G on it in fancy writing. It sure doesn't look like it belongs in a place like the slums. It looks rather expensive…" Cloud said, his eyebrows furrowed together. Tifa nodded, interested in his find. She wanted to know if it had anything to do with Cloud's absence these days but didn't ask him as he began to explain himself. "So I decided to investigate. All day I walked around Edge asking if this belonged to anyone. It doesn't belong to anyone!" He exclaimed, sounding annoyed at himself. "I wasted so much time! I could have been home by four!" He sighed as he shoveled more food into his mouth, looking guilty. Tifa smiled, happy to know that his absence wasn't because he wanted to be away from the family but because he was trying to be a Good Samaritan.

Marlene coughed and then began to speak. "Cloud, I saw someone with that headband a few days ago when Tifa took us to the slums. She needed to pick something up from Tom so she took Denzel and me with her!" She spoke, excited. Tifa frowned as she recalled how worried she was when she noticed Marlene and Denzel had gone missing from he sights for a few minutes before she found them again with happy grins on their faces and a flower each in their hands. Denzel nodded enthusiastically once he recalled the time.

"I remember! She looked like… well, you said it Marlene! Who did she look like again?" Denzel asked Marlene with wide eyes as he became curious. He eyes the blue headband and then looked up at Cloud who was staring intently at Marlene. Marlene looked at Tifa with a haze in her eyes, her hand coming up to touch the pink ribbon tied into her thick, straight brown hair.

"She looked like _her_. She looked like the flower girl from the slums. Aerith… she looked exactly like her Tifa! I'm not lying! I swear I'm not! If you'd seen her then you would have said so too!" Marlene defended herself as Cloud's eyes narrowed in confusion. Tifa nodded and placed a hand on Marlene's shoulder to calm her down. The child looked as if she'd done something wrong.

"I believe you Marlene. Cloud, I think we need to visit the slums tomorrow." Tifa stated, looking the blonde in the eyes. He nodded as his warm gaze focused on his best friend. He wondered why she ever stood by his side for so long, even after all the pain and hardship he'd put her through. He'd expected her to leave him all alone ever since he'd let her fall off Mt. Nibel.

"Yeah…" Cloud agreed before standing and picking up all four empty plates and walking to the sink with a small smile on his face. "You know, that felt really nice." He stated with a content sigh. Tifa nodded in agreement as Denzel and Marlene furrowed their brows in confusion.

"What felt nice? The food?" Denzel asked, feeling foolish. Cloud chuckled and shook his head, gathering his thoughts.

"No, Just this… being with… family I guess." He said with a small, rare smile on his lips. Marlene nodded in agreement.

"Yeah… we all missed you Cloud." Tifa couldn't help but nod as she began to rinse the dishes and put them in the dish washer so that the following morning they wouldn't have to worry about the dishes.

_Yes, we all missed you so much Cloud… please let us in every once in a while, okay?_

Tifa thought as she stacked the dishwasher with a huge, content smile on her beautiful lips.


End file.
